What if You Could Predict the Job Market 3 Years in Advance?

March 01, 2017

Has anyone ever asked you about your 5-year plan? What about a 10-year plan? The thing about future plans is that you can plan all you want, but you still have no way of knowing exactly what the future is going to be like.

If you are thinking about your future, two things that might come to mind are: employment and education. You may be wondering how you are going to find and keep a steady job. With that come thoughts of education and/or training. Are you qualified for the job you want? How can you become qualified? What skills do you need? Maybe it’s not a specific job you want, but a job in general, or a decent-paying job, or maybe you want to work in a specific field, but don’t know which job is right for you.

In July 2009, an article for MSNBC.com predicted the state of the job market in 2012. The article was titled, “Where Will the Jobs be in 2012?” Well, here it is…2012. It’s two and a half years later and I’m thinking it’s time to find out if these predictions came true and what that means for you as you think about your future career goals.

I’ve used BLS data, survey and studyresults, and news articles to compare the 2009 predictions to what experts are saying about the 2012 job market. And guess what…the predictions weren’t that far off the mark! Check out some of my comparisons below.